@YARNLADY We can look at areas where this has been applied and see that is is in fact lifting people out of poverty where the poverty had existed for thousands of years. We’ve had family lending with us since the invention of money, and it has never done so.
@funkdaddy I don’t believe Dr. Yunus was trying to say that microfinancing alone will eliminate poverty. Rather, I think his vision is that if you take a community that’s mired in generational abject poverty and give the most talented and motivated people in it the means to do something worthwhile with their talents, they then lift others around them by improving conditions and providing jobs and perhaps most importantly, by showing their neighbors that something better is possible.
@SavoirFaire Exactly. Onle of the old standbys of those that profit from the status quo is that whatever idea you might care to mention to improve things won’t solve the entire problem all by itself. We’ve used that flawed “logic” now for 32 years to shoot down every idea for doing something meaningful about the skyrocketing US National Debt. And as long as we continue to listen to that mantra, the debt will just keep climbing till we go bankrupt.
@ragingloli You needn’t worry about who they will be. You rather can look at who they are. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky fantasy. It was started in 1983 and it’s working Dr. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for the impact it had in Bangladesh and other third-world areas.
@Haleth Thanks you. Great answer.
@Judi Thanks. Kiva is making a difference, and it also gives a good return on investment for those who are fortunate enough to put some money into it. A way to help the poor and profit from it. What’s not to love?
@marinelife True, but if a community can sufficiently better itself, then it can begin to care for its own mentally ill and handicapped.
@josie Wehn we can do something so simple to help people pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and when we can even earn a profit for ourselves doing it, should we not feel guilt if we refuse. What do we say to our children when they tour the homelessness museum and ask us how we could have let that happen?